Home/How They’re Built
How they’re built
Most people can judge a kitchen. Fewer can judge a wall build-up. This is what’s behind the finished surface of every room we build — and why it matters when it’s minus two in January.
Wall build-up · outside → inside
Diagram is schematic. Specifications below are maintained by Essex Home and update here as the standard build system develops.
01
The finish you see. Timber, composite or contemporary board, fixed to battens so it can move and dry.
Spec: To be confirmed
02
A gap behind the cladding that lets air circulate and moisture escape, so the structure never sits wet.
Spec: To be confirmed
03
A breather membrane that keeps rain out while letting water vapour leave the wall.
Spec: To be confirmed
04
The engineered timber frame that carries the roof and takes the fixings for everything else.
Spec: To be confirmed
05
Fills the frame in walls, floor and roof. This is what makes the room usable in January and July.
Spec: To be confirmed
06
A layer on the warm side that stops moisture from inside the room condensing within the wall.
Spec: To be confirmed
07
Plasterboard fixed to the frame, giving a solid, straight wall ready for skim.
Spec: To be confirmed
08
Plastered, painted, floored and lit — the standard of a room inside the house.
Spec: To be confirmed
Why it matters
Insulation and airtightness decide whether the room is used in February or avoided. It also decides what your heating and cooling actually costs to run.
The ventilated cavity, breather membrane and vapour control are invisible once finished. They are the difference between a room that lasts decades and one that rots from the inside.
A rigid frame and properly boarded, plastered walls mean no cracking, no visible fixings and a surface you can hang a television on.
Electrical
Dedicated supply, consumer unit, sockets and USB outlets, internal and external lighting, data and TV points, heating and air-conditioning supplies, and EV or future provision where relevant — designed at drawing stage and certified by our own electricians.
[Electrical accreditation — TBC]
Air conditioning · Upgrade
Professionally installed air conditioning gives efficient heating through winter and cooling through summer, sized to the room’s insulation and glazing — not a panel heater and hope.
[F-Gas registration — TBC]
Planning & Building Regulations
Whether a garden room needs planning permission or Building Regulations approval depends on its size, position, height and intended use — and on your property. Many fall within permitted development. Some don’t. We identify which during the design process, before anything is ordered.
Not always. It depends on height, footprint, how close to the boundary the room sits, whether the property is listed or in a conservation area, and how the room will be used. We check this at the design stage.
Smaller detached garden rooms used as offices, gyms or hobby rooms often fall outside Building Regulations, but larger buildings, those close to the boundary or those with sleeping accommodation may not. We tell you where you stand before you commit.
Rooms intended for sleeping are treated differently under both planning and Building Regulations. It can be done, but it changes the specification and the approvals — so tell us at the start.
Yes. All electrical work is designed, installed and certified by our own electricians and notified where required.
Send us a photograph of your garden on WhatsApp together with the approximate dimensions and tell us what you’d like to use the room for. We’ll tell you what’s realistic.
Free design & quotation
Tell us your postcode, the approximate size of your garden and what the room is for. We’ll come back with what’s possible and a clear specification.